


the right words, they will be simple

by excusemymuse



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Darcy is the fandom bicycle and I love it, F/M, Gen, Multi, One fic a day, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SHIP DARCY WITH ALL THE THINGS, Writing Exercise, seriously adding tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-08 23:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3226733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excusemymuse/pseuds/excusemymuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All those lives and loves Darcy may have...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Best Day

**Author's Note:**

> A daily, un-edited writing exercise featuring my favourite and most versatile of characters ever. (Also I'm Canadian, so expect different spellings. They're right to me.)

Most people don't believe her when she says her childhood was normal. They point out her "brother" is an AI, her mom is Pepper Potts, and most importantly Tony-Freakin'-Stark is her father. That is not the definition of a normal childhood.

But Darcy made Jack-o-lanterns with her dad when she was a kid, like most other children. (Granted they were carved by Butterfingers and lasers, but her dad wasn't going to let a five year old handle a knife and Tony certainly wasn't going to get messy for a smiling pumpkin.)

_Happy had driven them far into farmland and Daddy was in the back listening to her explain the awesomeness of Halloween costume (Captain America) and how much candy she was going to get from around Happy's neighbourhood. Her house in Malibu didn't have a neighbourhood, so Daddy was going to fly the two of them to New York like last year so she could trick-or-treat in Happy's old neighbourhood. Mommy had to stay home, but they'd see her when they got back home._

_As soon as they arrived at the pumpkin patch Darcy ran out of the car, ready to find the three pumpkins her daddy had promised he'd get her. (Last year that had only bought one and after Butterfingers had destroyed it Happy had to go back to the farm and send her pictures of all the pumpkins so she could make proper choice.)_

_Once the best pumpkins were bought her dad let her go to the petting zoo where the pigs and the chickens and other animals were kept. She really liked the pigs and the horse, but the chickens sort of scared her, so she stayed clear of them._ _As they were leaving, her daddy put her on his shoulders and she could feel the sun and the cool breeze on her face._

Darcy doesn't remember why her dad would spend an afternoon with her each year just to pick out a pumpkin instead of just sending Happy to buy them, but she wouldn't trade those memories for anything... well a lifetime supply of pop-tarts, but her dad was Tony Stark, he was a lifetime supply of pop-tarts.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: The Best Day - Taylor Swift


	2. Not Ready to Make Nice

"I FUCKING HATE YOU NEW YORK!"

Jane stopped reading her science journal and looked up at Darcy whose heaving chest was only the first sign of her anger. Well second to yelling.

"Darcy," Jane put her pop-tart down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm done with New York and it's lights and-and sounds and bullshit people who won't help a girl when her binder full of thesis research falls down with her coffee and library books and because they're such assholes let the coffee spill on the library books and research notes which negates all of my hard work and now I have to pay the library fines for destroying the books so on top of losing hours of work I now have to give up coffee and milk so I don't go into debt over stupid fucking library books!" The rant came to an end with Darcy throwing an empty Starbucks out the open window, presumably at 'New York'.

"Okay, normally I'm not one to be calm about lost work, but you're scaring me right now Darcy." Jane approached Darcy slowly with her hands in front of her as if she was approaching a wild bear. She was holding a tinfoil package. "Pop-tart?"

"Yes please," Darcy backed away from the window, took the food and plopped down on to the ratty couch.

"Now, do you want to talk about it or do you want to throw more things at New York?"

Darcy played with the tinfoil in her hands while she held both pop-tarts in her mouth. "Tawk ahbow et."

Jane waited patiently for Darcy to take a bite of the pop-tarts and start, "It's just that we've been in New York for nearly a year now, and while it was cool and exciting to be here in the beginning I'm done with being upbeat. My thesis is going nowhere and so everyday I'm more stressed about whether or not I can really get my masters. On top of that I'm really beginning to hate my waitressing job because it sucks out so much of my energy that at the end of a shift all I really want to do is sit in my ratty sweats and watch Netflix until I pass out. Living in New York was not supposed to be like this. I was supposed to be getting my life together and all I feel is like my life is falling apart."

Jane watched as Darcy lie back over the couch arm rest and let out a huge groan. "You don't want to be motivated or hear how proud I am of you for doing all of this on your own without anyone else help?"

"Nope," came the reply, Darcy purposefully popping the P before stuffing more of the pop-tarts in her mouth.

"And you don't want to work on drying your notes and copying them out?"

"Fuck the notes."

"Since you're not ready to deal with life tonight, why don't we watch some Friends on Netflix, make up a drinking game, and deal with life tomorrow morning."

"Sold!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
> 
> (Also this is generally my feeling right now as I finish up my last semester of school. I'm just over uplifting talk and motivational speeches, I just want to be done.)


	3. Yoga Pants

In general Steve and Bucky lamented current fashion trends in everyday clothing. Steve had attempted to correct to guys when he say that their pants were hanging so low that Steve could see their underwear (he couldn't consider them men when they dressed so poorly). Bucky was also uncomfortable with the ubiquitous sweat pants and t-shirts. They had adjusted the best they could to the informality, but they missed how people would only step out once they were in presentable clothing. Now it seemed only those in the business sector would bother with a suit and tie for everyday attire. Long gone were the pinned hairs and collared shirts, replaced with messy buns and sweat shirts.

But in one aspect did neither man complain: yoga pants.

However informal and slightly provocative those pants were, neither man could resist the view they provided. Especially when Darcy wore her Lululemon pants.

After London, Darcy had decided to up her gym time and with this positive lifestyle change, decided to invest in some good quality yoga pants. Her collection was now up to five, one for every weekday (because Darcy refused on principle to workout on the weekend). Bucky personally loved the ankle length, loose fitting pair because they hugged Darcy's butt and thighs beautifully then flowed loosely from her knees to the floor. It emphasised her every step, buoyant as they were. Steven was a fan of her cute little running shorts, the artist in him fascinated with the lines of her muscles in her legs as she bent and folded her body.

Now they both would conveniently be present in the Tower's fully outfitted gym, just minutes before Darcy would appear for her daily stretch in from of the full mirrors on the mats or her run on the treadmill right by the windows. Her eyes closed to the world, listening to the yoga instructions or music coming from her iPod, depending on the chosen exercise, she rarely took notice of them except that the start and end of her workout, throwing out pop culture references too quickly for them to keep up most times. Though whenever one of them correctly identified a quote they were rewarded by a blinding smile and a quick wink (the best part).

They never spoke of their shared admiration, but when Darcy's workout clothes were destroyed in a freak dryer incident (after which Tony was no longer allowed to tinker outside the lab) Steve and Bucky banded together to get her a $1000 gift card to Lululemon. They were only helping out a friend, and really without the clothes Darcy might have given up her workouts, which would be a shame given all the hard work and effort she had put in.

(And if Darcy would only wear certain style of yoga shorts or pants whenever the boys came back after a difficult mission, that would be purely coincidental.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No song, found an old doc of prompts from the original thread of the puckleberry drabble meme, decided to see which ones could fit here. (Also because my shuffle decided to break and would only play female country singers, which isn't bad, but doesn't lend to creativity.)
> 
> I don't own Lululemon or it's brand, I just have no idea how to input the little trademark sign into the text. All I own is some kickass yoga gear from their stores :)
> 
> Also I have 5 updates, because real life is hard and school kicks my butt during the week, so I can't update until I can type out my hand written chicken scratch.


	4. Calendar

See it's not stalking if you work for the same company and handle all the PR. Okay she's the assistant to the PR manager. But it's totally not stalking.

This is how it started:

Darcy is supposed to collect photos from a recent publicity stunt the Avengers did and make them into a brochure, PowerPoint, and poster. All of this in order to improve the Avengers' images so that people won't sue when they break a city. Tony can only pay so many people for their damage claims before he goes bankrupt. (The Hulk, while a closet sweetie and cuddler, likes to SMASH!). So to promote a better image, Stark Industries has a PR team that helps keep the Avengers looking good (and keeping spysassins from being feature daily on the front of magazines because A. that ruins the whole 'spy' aspect of their jobs and B. an annoyed assassin should always be avoided).

Generally Steve and Tony are called up the speak to the public, Bruce helping out with science connections, Sam and Rhodey work with military personnel to foster good will, and Thor adores visiting hospitals and brightening everyone's day. Sometimes Clint and Bucky can be roped into some PR stunts, but Natasha is assigned strictly to black tie affairs (mostly because she can be invisible there once the booze starts flowing and handling drunk rich men is easy for her). Also after that incident with that person at the place with the thing, Tony isn't allowed to be anywhere without supervision, so Darcy is his babysitter.

Wherever Tony is assigned, it's a safe bet that they'll want Steve there to balance out his personality, so Darcy has been in Captain America's presence several times. It doesn't make it easier to talk to him. But she powers through.

This is how it got out of control:

No matter how many brochures and posters (etc.) are made, there will always be a thousand unused photos from each event. Before Darcy was given the task of collecting the photos from each event, they were deleted, shredded, and otherwise thrown in the trash. That's just policy. New photos can be taken, and they keep the ones they use on file, so no need to fill an extra 4 gigs of pictures no one will use. But an evil crazy thought burrowed it's way into Darcy's brain: If they're all going to be thrown away anyways, no one will notice if Darcy pilfers some.

Now she doesn't make weird collages with them and hangs them on top of her bed. There is no shrine to the Abs of the Avengers (at least not until she gets the PR manager position, after which she'll have that shit trademarked). She uses them to make calendars.

The Natasha calendar is of Natasha being all badass, each month colour coordinated with the colour of her dress.

The Tony calendar is filled with photos of bad/goofy photos of Tony, which like Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother, seems impossible but Darcy has a calendar that proves it happens and it's caught on camera.

Thor's is of him looking adorable with excited children which makes your ovaries burst with cuteness overload.

Clint has a lot of him with his bow. Darcy was able to collect photos of him pointing his bow in several directions and made a clock like calendar where Clint points at a new number on a time face. (When she's the PR manager that shit will be on clocks and kids' watches everywhere).

Sam and Rhodey share a calendar (mostly because the majority of places they visit are not documented. This is because when Stark stop providing the military with his weapons and subsequently privatized world peace, the military got a little mad at Stark Industries and are not generally welcome on some bases. They're not denied access, but the photographers are firmly reminded of the new no photo's rule). But with the two boys in their uniform or getting ready to fly it doesn't matter that they get less calendar space. Plus once Darcy's plan to take over the PR team is set in motion she is definitely setting up photo shoots with those boys. Falcon and War Machine (excuse me, Iron Patriot) have so many fans in the film industry. Apparently their good looks and literal ability to fly is good for movies. (Sam doesn't know it, but he's been offered to play Michael Jordon in a bio-flick. The stupid PR team shot that down, but once Darcy is the supreme ruler of the PR team, you best believe that Sam will be memorizing his lines.)

The Bucky calendar is filled with shots of Bucky speaking to veterans of multiple wars. From World War II until now Bucky is remembering jobs he did for SHIELDRA which span so many wars. He doesn't remember all that he did, but speaking to veterans helps with his memory and with his guilt. He's not the only one who did things they aren't proud of in war. These events are mostly for Bucky, with the fringe benefit of helping rehabilitate Bucky's image in the public. The PR team generally goes with photos of Bucky and the veterans with serious faces or gentle smiles, branding Bucky as a changed man who's changing for the better. This isn't inaccurate, but Darcy prefers her calendars which has photos of Bucky with veterans depicting laughter and tears, and one day she'll give it to him and show him he's more than the man everyone says he is.

Steve doesn't have a calendar.

That's Darcy's story and she's sticking to it. If there was a calendar, it'd be hers. And if there were multiple calendars that would last her for twenty years that'd be none of your business. But hypothetically if they were to exist, one could exclusively be different angles of his soft smile reserved for children. One might be him in full costume being the best hero ever. Another may be his apple pie, boy next door, 'aw shucks moments. Another would be his brooding face, all sexy, some with some facial hair. There'd be one of his abs. Just his abs. And yes, that one may have been taken from footage from Jarvis took of the gym. If it existed. Which it doesn't. Because that'd be stalking.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a reminder, there is zero editing being done here. Just in case you see problems please report them so I can fix them. 
> 
> I'm just trying to get back into the swing of writing. I haven't been writing since I started this ride called "higher education". I just want to get off already, throw up, pump two fists in the air and scream "I DID IT!", then go eat food that's horrible for me and make bad life decisions.
> 
> Can you feel my last semester angst?


	5. Pleasantville

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Generator gave me: All of the characters find themselves living perfectly ordinary lives for some reason.

Darcy had to redefine what "normal" was several time in her life.

Normal was having an A.I. as an older brother.  
Normal was Norse Gods coming down from the sky as super cut aliens.  
Normal was dropping shoes down a stairwell and having them come back from the sky.  
Normal was lying to everyone about the fact that Tony Stark was your father.

Darcy's normal was what most people called out of this world abnormal.

But apparently today's Normal waking up in a suburban house with Tony Stark reading the newspaper with a healthy breakfast on the table ... like "normal" people.

Darcy had woken up that morning in a bed not her down, with curtains on the windows and sunshine streaming in. The wallpaper (SHE HAD WALLPAPER?) was of pastel butterflies. The wall above a desk (which had a MAC on it???) had photos of Darcy in a cheerleader uniform, surrounded by other girls wearing cheerleading uniforms, all the colour of green and white. She was holding freaking pompoms in her hands. There was even calculus homework on the desk, with improperly solved math equations written in her handwriting. Had she hit her head? Was this an acid trip? She knew those cupcakes that Clint had given her had tasted off (they hadn't, but she wouldn't put it past Clint to get her high after he found out how straight laced she was about drugs).

Walking out of the (her?) bedroom, the hallway was a light green with more photos lining the walls. Photos of Darcy and Tony at carnivals, younger versions of her at zoos, and class trips (none of which Darcy had attended as far as she remembered, because Stark children didn't attend public school like normal children of average intelligence). Walking down the stairs as if someone was going to jump out and attack her, Darcy saw a lawn outside windows. A neighbourhood of normal American houses all lined up neatly. In the distance she could hear a lawnmower and children laughing. What was this insanity?

Following the smell of food (it was this that Darcy distrusted the most. Breakfast for Starks was espressos at 2 in the afternoon, when Starks woke up after crashing from all night SCIENCE!things). In the kitchen, beautifully lit and tastefully decorated (not a single Ironman poster anywhere) Tony was seated sipping orange juice (!!!!!) and reading a local newspaper (there was a photo of a pee wee baseball game on the front page). Looking behind Tony, Darcy could see a massive wood shelf with hundreds of porcelain figurines. This more than anything else scared Darcy.

"Umm... when did we move and why is there a collection of figurines in that shelf over there?" Darcy asked bizarro!Tony.  
"We've never moved, we've lived here since you were born Darcy, and that's your ballerina collection," Tony replied putting down the newspaper, eyebrows knit together in confusion. "You feeling alright sweetheart?"

Normal was also going to be her father talking to her like.... well like normal fathers. He normally called her "kid" or "offspring" (in the most loving, yet ever so snarky manner, that only Starks are capable). Backing away from the breakfast table, Darcy's horrified face only caused Tony's face of confusion to deepen into worry.

"Sugar, what's wrong? Did you not get head cheerleader?" Tony said slowly approaching Darcy, hands out as if to show he wasn't a threat. "Just calm down, I'm sure I can talk to your coach about having a recount. You've done well in your Math class, your grandfather and I are so proud of you."

Normal was freaking Darcy the hell out.

Darcy ran out of the house so quick, she didn't even notice the slightly ajar door to a room filled with computers.

"Sir, don't you think it is time to tell Darcy that this is an April fool's joke meant for Ms. Potts?"  
"Nah Jarv, she'll figure it out sometime before she hits Elm St.," Tony replied, going back to eating breakfast and reading his newspaper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got off the ride known as class. Just have to finish a few exams, then school for me is over. I also finally have a brain capacity to return to this :)
> 
> Not my best work, but eh, it'll do.
> 
> Also for everyone asking for a continuation of last chapter...well I'll have to work on that. I have no idea how a second chapter would go.


End file.
